Comments on: Are Credit Card Interchange Fees Ripping Off the American Consumer? http://www.thecatalystcode.com/theconversation/blog/2008/06/12/are-credit-card-interchange-fees-ripping-off-the-american-consumer/ The Catalyst Code Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:37:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.11 by: Del Tonguette http://www.thecatalystcode.com/theconversation/blog/2008/06/12/are-credit-card-interchange-fees-ripping-off-the-american-consumer/#comment-520 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:23:15 +0000 http://www.thecatalystcode.com/theconversation/blog/2008/06/12/are-credit-card-interchange-fees-ripping-off-the-american-consumer/#comment-520 Interchange fees were originally developed in the early days of regional and national credit card programs to offset the fraud and collection losses, of the issuers, that were anticipated because of mass issue and the unknowns of the credit card market. They have survived to this day, because the credit card pioneers (I am one of the 'pioneers') are the very ones that went on to develop debit card, POS and ATM shared programs. When it came to compensation of parties, we took the easy way out and initiated interchange rather than develop a new card payment system. Interchange fees are way past their useful lifetime and should be discarded for newer and more fair payment systems. The government should not be allowed to enter this arena; it is up to the issuers and acquirers to get together and agree to and implement new payment strategies. Everyone will win...including the consumer. Interchange fees were originally developed in the early days of regional and national credit card programs to offset the fraud and collection losses, of the issuers, that were anticipated because of mass issue and the unknowns of the credit card market. They have survived to this day, because the credit card pioneers (I am one of the ‘pioneers’) are the very ones that went on to develop debit card, POS and ATM shared programs. When it came to compensation of parties, we took the easy way out and initiated interchange rather than develop a new card payment system.

Interchange fees are way past their useful lifetime and should be discarded for newer and more fair payment systems. The government should not be allowed to enter this arena; it is up to the issuers and acquirers to get together and agree to and implement new payment strategies. Everyone will win…including the consumer.

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